Many people buying hot tubs don’t know about spa pads. Pouring concrete or building a deck to support the new purchase can be expensive and troublesome. Spa pads not only work on any well-drained area — such as grass, dirt, sand or gravel — but they can also be moved if an owner wants to relocate a hot tub.
“A lot of people don’t realize it’s available, so this is something we teach our salespeople to bring up in conversation,” says Christian Staples, owner of Arctic Spas in Salt Lake City, Utah. “When talking with a customer, we go over the simplicity of it all, and tell them we will just bring it out with the tub. We can snap it together and then your tub has a great foundation for it. It really makes it easy for the customer to not have to pour a concrete pad.”
Ken Noble, CEO and president of EZ Pads Inc., in Vista, California, says the company has experienced an average 24% growth year over year for the past five years with its EZ Pad-brand spa pads, thanks to expanded distribution to Canada and Australia.
EZ Pad has been in business since 1999 and has more than 50,000 installations to date.
Mike Genova, president of Spokane, Washington-based Leisure Concepts, Inc., makers of the SmartDeck, says it’s cheaper than using a local contractor to create a concrete base, and you don’t need to worry about the weather or the contractor’s schedule to get a hot tub installed.
“Everyone wins,” Genova says. “The consumer gets a better product and the retailer can make the sale.”
Jack Gawrys, proprietary sales coordinator for Confer Plastics Inc., in North Tonawanda, New York, makers of The Handi-Spa Pad, says a spa pad can save money with minimal surface prep.
“It might save someone a couple of grand, and concrete work can be quite a process,” he says. “With spa pads, all you have to do is excavate and then you put your hot tub on top of it. Hardware-free construction gets the hot tub in a customer’s backyard.”
*This article was original published by SpaRetailer, another trademarked publication by Kendrick Content.